The Girl Who's Got Moxie
by Falcon226
Summary: Cat needs a girlfriend to bring home. Thank goodness she finds somebody to do so. "Are you busy Saturday? Do you want to come over? At seven? We're having vegan pot pie. It's vegan week."


A/N I know I should be updating my current fic, but I want to do a oneshot to get back on track.

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It's easier than you would think.

My family's so accepting anyway, I could be attracted to moose- mooses? Meese?- and they would probably not care. It's so chaotic here. The day I told my mom, "I like girls," she said, "That's great, sweetie. When there's someone really special, just bring her on over!" I guess that moment might have been, y'know, more touching if she had not been stuffing a squirrel at the time. My brother brought down the squirrel with a rainbow feather-tipped arrow.

I know I'm... not like other people, but the combined forces of Family Valentine might scare most. We don't really have next door neighbors anymore...

Uncle Matteo is gay. So is Uncle Darwin. But they're sort of married. We're in California, after all. I guess it's easy to talk to Uncle Matty and ask him questions. He says that it wasn't as easy for him back then as it is for me, but that he had it easier than most gay guys. At least I can have my girlfriend to dinner and such.

Oh, did I forget to talk about the rest of the coming-out conversation with my Mommy? That, I did. Um, well...

"I do," I told her. I meant to say, 'I will.'

"That's great, Cat," she said enthusiastically, raising her arms and sending animal stuffing everywhere. "Bring her over next Saturday, will you?"

"Uh..."

"Great!"

So then I had to get a girlfriend! Ack! And there was only a week!

I asked Tori if she could come over on Saturday, but she said that she had an important half birthday for her sister. I didn't question this, because it totally makes sense.

So then I asked Trina, but she was busy too. Wonder why...

Oh, I didn't know who to ask, so I just whined a lot and almost broke my locker handle in frustration and was seriously starting to consider asking Robbie to put on a dress. It didn't occur to me at first to ask Jade, since she was always a major part of Jade & Beck and so, so beautiful and untouchable. I knew that they had split up for the third time, but they always ended up getting back together.

But then I was at my locker and I still was not sure if my lock had died yet, and I was getting really frustrated from this week, when I heard a throaty, "Hi, Cat." My head whipped around, and there was Jade, looking as cool-headed as ever.

"Jade! Oh, hi!" I threw my arms around her impulsively. Then I remembered she hates hugs, so I withdrew my hands quickly. "Sorry."

"Yeah," she said neutrally.

I did not quite know how to reply to that, but I sure did redirect the subject. "Are you busy Saturday? Do you want to come over? At seven? We're having vegan pot pie. It's vegan week. You're a vegan, right?"

"Not anymore," she said. I think she might have been overwhelmed.

I kept talking. "Oh. Well, it's still pretty good. Please come, please?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever," she said. "Not like I have anything better to do."

"Yay!" Impulsively, I slammed my locker shut, kissed Jade on the cheek, and skipped off to seventh period.

I wondered if that had been a mistaken act, but only hours later. But it's not the one you think.

She came five minutes early. I have to majorly stand on tiptoe to see through the peephole on the front door, and the view is kind of fish-eyed, but I was pretty blown away by what I saw. I opened the door eagerly and could not help but gape at the close-clinging black top and skirt she was wearing. My magenta sundress made me feel a little under-amazing, but I was more attracted to Jade than upset at my fashion choices.

"Thanks for coming," I said, offering her a hand to come in.

She glanced around the area for a bit. I've had her over before, but my family was never home. "Okay. Thanks." Tentatively, she took my hand and came inside.

"Caaaat, is she here yet?"

"Yeah, Mommy! Be there in a minute" I hollered back. I took a step closer to her and put my hands up on her shoulders. "So... Um... I was not kind of really honest about why I invited you here?"

She raised and eyebrow and I could totally tell she was uncomfortable with the space intrusion. "Cat, what are you talking about?"

Chewing on my lip, I looked up in her eyes. "Please don't be mad. Please, please, pretty please? I, uh, they kind of might have the idea that you're my girlfriend?"

She took a step back, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "If this was some sort of way to get me to go out with you, you might have at least _asked_ and been honest."

"Does that mean you will?" I asked hopefully.

Uncomfortably, she shrugged. "Sure, yeah, you're not entirely awful to be around."

"Yay!" I popped up on tiptoe and kissed her.

A flash of something crossed her eyes after I pulled away like two seconds later. "That was definitely not horrible."

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah. Now stop asking questions. I think your family's getting impatient, if the heads peering around the corner are any indication." She took my hand and pulled me (more gently than I might have expected) into the kitchen.

"Mommy, Daddy, Nico, Uncle Matty, Uncle Darwin, Grandma Rosie... this is Jade."

My family all started asking questions at once, swarming around her and mostly just being super-loud. Grandma Rosie _loves_ people, so of course she had to prod Jade with her walking stick and yell loudest of all, "Now what in orange's name have you done with your hair?" Everyone else shut up and deferred to Grandma.

She fingered the colored extensions in her hair contemplative-like. "I like them," she said cooly, setting her face into a steely expression.

"Well, me too," Grandma Rosie decided, poking Jade in the side again with her walking stick. "I like you, girl. Y've got Moxie." Then she started yammering in Italian to Uncle Matty, so I decided that was our cue to sit down.

"You really should have just asked me," she murmured as we settled into the wobbly wooden chairs.

I shifted about in my chair. "I didn't think you liked me very much. And, and, and... it's kind of scary to go up to you and be like, 'Hey, Jade! I'm a lesbian! Betcha didn't know that. And you've never ever shown signs that you like girls, but want to go out with me?'"

"If you want something, you should just go for it," she said nonchalantly. "You're cute when you're flustered, though. Just make sure your Grandma doesn't bruise my ribs anymore, and there might actually be more than a dinner with your strange family."

"They're not strange!" I shouted defensively.

"Who's not strange?" my brother Nico yelled, pushing over his glass when he flailed his arms about.

"Never mind," Jade sighed, waving him off.

Dinner was awesome, even if Grandma Rosa insisted that we not eat a bite while she went to the loo. I totally saw Nico and Uncle Darwin eat when they weren't supposed to. Jade did really well in conversation, somehow making it seemed like getting to together had not come through um... trickery on my part. All in all, it was a pretty good night for everyone.

Jade's parting words to me before she went home were, "I like it when you're spontaneous." She cupped my cheek and kissed me. Hoping to live up to her comment, my tongue begged for entry into her mouth. Pulling away, she shook her head. "Next time, okay? I really have to go home. It's been... interesting." Then, she blew me a kiss and strutted away.

Am I in love? Now, ohmygod yes. We've been together for three months, and I love how she keeps up with my family so smoothly without being one of them.

KUH-CRASH.

That's Nico. I think he smashed Grandma Rosie's wheelchair into a door again. Oh well; we keep a spare one in the dog run.

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A/N: Admittedly not my best stuff. Really wish you could put three genres since this is Humor/Romance/Family.


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